


I Believe It's Time For Me To Fly

by dracomalfoy



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-22
Updated: 2012-05-22
Packaged: 2017-11-05 19:36:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/410225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dracomalfoy/pseuds/dracomalfoy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Taking place in between Simon Said and Born Under A Bad Sign, Jo has begun to show an interest in Dean Winchester and Ash can't help but feel like he's been replaced somehow, even if Jo had never felt that way about him to begin with.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Believe It's Time For Me To Fly

_for http://jesuischele.tumblr.com/  
Hope you like it :)_

 

For five years Ash had been at the Roadhouse. Five long years that he'd spent helping hunters track demons, drinking PBR every night, and most importantly, being Jo's one and only friend. He had always been the guy she looked up to, the one to whom she told all her secrets and the one who was there to calm her down when she needed to blow off steam. Ash was Jo's best friend. He liked to think he was something more than that but one could never know with Jo. That's why the summer of 2006 was different than all the years before, because that was the year she found someone new.

Dean Winchester came out of nowhere. Everything was going great...hell, everything was going perfect before he showed up with his classic car and bad-boy attitude. He walked in that front door with his brother Sam and something changed. It took a few days to sink in but after they left, Jo wouldn't stop talking about him.

At first it was, “Those Winchesters were kind of different, huh?”, then “I wonder if Dean and Sam are gonna come back,” and finally “Dean would fit in good here.” Ash fit in good there. He was the one who was different. He was the one who would always be there for her. And he was the one who was now being tossed aside thanks to some romantic notions about a hunter who had only been at the Roadhouse a couple of times and hadn't even stayed for more than thirty minutes.

Ash had been reluctant to help when the Winchesters came in for the third time that month. He just wanted them to move on to somewhere far away from Nebraska. But he didn't show it. Ash was no idiot; he knew he was being selfish. He knew he wanted Jo to himself, not necessarily because he thought he was better than Dean, but because he was trying to protect her. He was always trying to protect her and that's why she wanted someone else. She wanted someone who would throw her out into a world of danger and not worry one bit whether or not she could face it or not, and Ash couldn't do that. He couldn't be a bad-boy hunter with a cool car and a body that looked like it came out of an Abercrombie and Fitch catalog. He was just Ash and that wasn't good enough for her.

“I can't believe he just left again.” Jo sighed as she leaned up against the bar counter.

Ash rolled his eyes, making sure not to let her see as he spoke under his breath. “I can.”

Jo cocked her head at him. “Huh?”

“Nothin'”

She shrugged and walked behind the counter to grab a beer for a hunter sitting at a table in the corner of the bar. Ash took another swig of his PBR and grimaced when he reached the last drop. Standing up from his spot by the bar, he went behind the counter to toss the empty bottle into the recycling bin. Jo came back and gave him a look.

“You want another?”

“Nah.”

“Seriously?” She raised her eyebrows at him incredulously.

“Yeah, I'm good.”

“You never quit drinking this early in the night. Something's got to be up.”

Ash shrugged his shoulders and turned his back to her, beginning to walk away.

Jo frowned. “Miles, what's up?”

He sighed and shook his head. “It's nothin', Jo-Jo. Don't worry about it.”

Jo stood behind the bar and watched him go into his room without saying anything more. She couldn't think of anything she could have done to make him upset with her. He was never this antisocial.

Throwing the dirty rag she had been using to wipe the counter with into a bucket of soapy water, Jo went back to Ash's room about a minute after he had and knocked on the door.

“Yeah?” He called from behind the door.

“It's me.” Jo answered, staring at the **Dr. Badass** sign hanging in front of her.

The door opened and Ash gestured for her to come in. Once he shut it behind her, Jo put her hands on her hips while he went over and sat nonchalantly in his desk chair.

“Okay, tell me what's up.” She demanded softly.

“Why?” He answered with a surprisingly cold tone.

“ _Why_?” Jo cocked an eyebrow. “Because there's obviously something up.”

“Nice of you to notice.” He said, his eyes shifting to the floor, avoiding her gaze.

“Miles, what's gotten into you? Why are you being like this?” She stepped closer to him, her brow furrowing.

“Sorry...” He said quietly, sighing once he realized he was kind of being an ass. “This whole situation just kinda sucks is all.”

Jo shook her head and looked at him with even more confusion. “What are you talking about?”

She stared expectantly at him for a moment but he didn't say anything. “You mean the thing with Sam and Dean?”

Ash raised his eyes and caught her gaze. She tipped her head to the side.

“What about them?” She asked.

Leaning back in his chair, Ash let out a loud exhale and ran his hands through his hair. “I dunno, they just bug me a bit.”

Jo laughed to herself and rolled her eyes. “Why, 'cause they're making you do all this research?”

“You know I don't mind the research.”

“Then why?” She asked again.

He sighed and bit his lip. This was a bad, bad idea to have this conversation.

“'Cause you're gettin' attached to them.”

Jo's eyes grew wide and she scoffed at him. “I am not.”

He shrugged and turned towards his laptop sitting on the cluttered desk.

“Miles, I am not attached to them.”

“Guess I'm just imaging things then.” He said quietly.

“No, no, no. You've got to explain. How am I getting attached to them? They've only been here three times and haven't even stayed long enough for me to even know a single thing about them.”

“Yet you talk about Dean Winchester at least once daily.”

Jo stopped and her expression faded to something blank. “So this is about Dean, then?”

Ash hung his head and closed his eyes. “Yeah, I guess.” He said after a few moments.

Scoffing again, Jo narrowed her eyes at him. “What...what, you think I have a crush on him or something?”

Turning back to her slightly and opening his eyes, he looked at her plainly. “You don't?”

Her lips twitched and she folded her arms at her chest. “No.”

Ash raised his brow. “If you think you can lie to me, think again, Jo-Jo. I've known you long enough to see right through 'em.”

Looking away, she clenched her jaw. Ash could tell this was going completely downhill and he regretted starting the entire thing.

“Listen, I just don't want you gettin' hurt, okay?”

Jo slumped her shoulders and glared at him. “Why do you always insist on trying to protect me?”

Ash shrugged.

“Stop acting like you're my father.”

“I know I ain't your father.”

“Then stop acting like you're my boyfriend.”

He glanced up into her eyes and then looked down at the floor. He felt an aching pain in his stomach arise and Ash wanted nothing more than to just start the whole night over. But then again, he had walked right into this. He knew he wouldn't win. He knew she would choose Dean over him. He wasn't even sure if that's what he wanted; to make her choose. That seemed far too juvenile. But Ash couldn't help but imagine what it had been like before the Winchesters showed up. He was beginning to think he might have had a chance. But not now. Not after tonight.

“Let's just forget about it, okay?” He said, his voice strangely weak and low.

Jo rolled her eyes and tapped her fingertips against the arm folded at her chest.

Ash turned to his computer again and started clicking the keys, attempting to ignore her now. Jo smiled half-heartedly and leaned down to kiss him gently on the cheek. He didn't even flinch or look up at her.

“No one can replace you, Miles.” She said before patting his shoulder and walking out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Ash stopped typing once she left. He hadn't even been writing anything important, just copying down an algorithm he had memorized to look like he was busy. Sitting there alone in his room, he felt like everything was all wrong. He could still feel her lips against his cheek and it made his heart ache because he knew that he had been replaced. Ash knew his chances of being with Jo were gone, if there were even any to begin with. He couldn't be the man she wanted and for a second, he wanted to throw his laptop onto the floor and watch it smash into tiny pieces of wire and plastic. Instead he leaned forward and put his head in his hands, closed his eyes and wished he had gotten another can of PBR when he had been at the bar.


End file.
